2014 Australasian Masters Bulletin 8 – Saturday December 20, 2014 Editor – Kerry Stead Young Anton Smirnov has once again regained the sole lead in the Australasian Masters after drawing with fellow Australian IM Max Illingworth. GM Vasily Papin, who had previously shared the lead with Anton was defeated by Moulthun Ly & he now shares second place in the event with his fellow Grandmasters Murtas Kazhgaleyev & Rustam Khusnutdinov. Bobby Cheng is the best of the rest on 3.5/7, with a number of players on 3/7. In the IM event, there are now two leaders, with IM Kanan Izzat & Yi Liu both on 5.5/7. Their round 8 clash will no doubt be vital to both the final placings, as well as Yi's IM norm chances. Igor Bjelobrk is currently in third, half a point behind the leaders, while Eugene Schon is still within striking distance on 4.5/7. In terms of norms, Anton Smirnov & Yi Liu both require 1.5/2 for a GM or IM norm respectively, while Luke Li now requires 2/2 for an IM norm. The performances of the Kazakhstan Grandmasters is getting some coverage online, with an article on the Kazakh chess website http://profchess.kz/kazakhstan-in- world/Kazhgaleev-Khusnutdinov-Austalia-2014.html Top left: Ingela Erikkson supporting her husband Igor Bjelobrk, with their children Top right: A crowd gathers to watch the conclusion of the game between Anton Smirnov & Max Illingworth Lower Left: GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev likes his clothes yellow & bright!
7
Embed
2014 Australasian Masters - Box Hill Chessboxhillchess.org.au/uploads/2014AustMasters/AMBulletin1408.pdfMurtas Kazhgaleyev played the Nimzo-Indian Defence against Luke Li & the game
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
2014Australasian
Masters
Bulletin 8 – Saturday December 20, 2014Editor – Kerry Stead
Young Anton Smirnov has once again regained the sole lead in the Australasian Masters after drawing with fellow Australian IM Max Illingworth. GM Vasily Papin, who had previously shared the lead with Anton was defeated by Moulthun Ly & he now shares second place in the event with his fellow Grandmasters Murtas Kazhgaleyev & Rustam Khusnutdinov. Bobby Cheng is the best of the rest on 3.5/7, with a number of players on 3/7.
In the IM event, there are now two leaders, with IM Kanan Izzat & Yi Liu both on 5.5/7. Their round 8 clash will no doubt be vital to both the final placings, as well as Yi's IM norm chances. Igor Bjelobrk is currently in third, half a point behind the leaders, while Eugene Schon is still within striking distance on 4.5/7.
In terms of norms, Anton Smirnov & Yi Liu both require 1.5/2 for a GM or IM norm respectively, while Luke Li now requires 2/2 for an IM norm.
The performances of the Kazakhstan Grandmasters is getting some coverage online, with an article on the Kazakh chess website http://profchess.kz/kazakhstan-in-world/Kazhgaleev-Khusnutdinov-Austalia-2014.html
Top left: Ingela Erikkson supporting her husband Igor Bjelobrk, with their children
Top right: A crowd gathers to watch the conclusion of the game between Anton Smirnov & Max Illingworth
Murtas Kazhgaleyev played the Nimzo-Indian Defence against Luke Li & the game quickly turned into a wild tactical affair! Li gave back the bishop pair early in the game to win a pawn, but had to face an attack on his king in return. Li snatched another pawn before trying to secure his defences around his king, however Kazhgaleyev continued to press with his pieces. Kazhgaleyev temporarily sacrificed a piece to continue the attack, howeverLi did not find the tricky tactical line that would have given him a significant advantage & the game petered out to a draw by repetition.
Moulthun Ly played a Closed variation against Vasily Papin's Sicilian Defence & the game eventually resembled something more usually found in the Advanced French. Ly made useof his space advantage to gain a slight edge in the early middlegame, however Papin appeared to have things under control. Once Ly managed to trade his g-pawn for Papin's e-pawn, the tactical possibilities created by the half-open g-file & passed e-pawn all worked in Ly's favour, with Papin forced to give up a piece for the e-pawn. Faced with a hopeless endgame a piece behind, Papin resigned.
Junta Ikeda played the Kan Sicilian against Rustam Khusnutdinov & followed a theoretical line for a number of moves. Khusnutdinov then launched an attack on Ikeda's uncastled king, temporarily sacrificing the exchange before bringing all his pieces to bear upon Ikeda's king. Ikeda made an error in defence & Khusnutdinov siezed his opportunity & wona piece, before exchanging pieces off to a techincally winning endgame, which was enough for Ikeda to resign.
Anton Smirnov played a sideline against Max Illingworth's Berlin Defence, which kept the queens on the board, however Illingworth's queenside pawn structure was compromised as a result. Illingworth got some activity in return for this structural concession & looked to have some winning possibilities with an advanced passed d-pawn. Smirnov neutralised thepassed pawn, but could do little to improve his position. Illingworth eventually traded off into an opposite coloured bishops endgame, which was drawn after a few more moves.
Bobby Cheng showed his aggressive intentions early against Karl Zelesco, playing an early g4 against Zelesco's Slav Defence. Zelesco defended well for most of the middlegame, however he miscalculated things when he started to gain a small initiative & lost a piece. Cheng then calculated the endgame precisely, allowing Zelesco to promote the pawn, but forcing checkmate shortly afterwards.
The Smirnov-Illingworth post-game analysis session has plenty of interested spectators, with WFM Margit Brokko & CM Gary Bekker watching on, while the Losing Points Blitz goes on in the background at the chess club.